Matt Smith (rugby union, born 1985)
Birth name | Matthew William Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 15 November 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Leicester, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 98 kg (15 st 6 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Oakham School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notable relative(s) | Ian "Dosser" Smith (father) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Matthew William Smith (born 15 November 1985)
Career
Smith made his Tigers debut against the Barbarians in March 2006 and, by the close of the 2006/07 season, had played on a further three occasions for the first team. Smith had been a regular member of Tigers’ successful Development XV over the past two seasons, where his versatility saw him excel at centre, full-back or fly-half. He scored his first senior try during friendly encounter with Marcelo Loffreda’s Argentina at Welford Road.
The son of former Tigers flanker, skipper and coach
The 2008/09 season saw Smith make his breakthrough into regular first team action, appearing in all 16 of the games before Christmas 2008.
In January 2009 he received a call up to the
He received the Outstanding Service Award at the end of the 2015/16 season.[9]
On 9 May 2019 Smith announced his retirement from rugby and he took up a position as the club's academy head coach.[10] He played his 228th and final game for the club on 18 May 2019 at Welford Road against Bath.[11]
References
- ^ "Aviva Premiership Rugby - Gloucester Rugby". web page. Premier Rugby. Archived from the original on 16 June 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
- ^ "Matt Smith ESPN profile". ESPN. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ "Leicester 10-9 London Irish". BBC. 16 May 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ "Leicester 33-27 Saracens". BBC. 29 May 2010. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ "Aviva Premiership final: Leicester 37-17 Northampton". BBC. 25 May 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ Leicester Tigers : Matt Smith
- ^ Mann, Andy (26 January 2009). "Smith deserves Saxons chance – coach". Leicester Tigers. Retrieved 4 February 2009.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Brereton, Chris (31 January 2009). "Ellis impresses on his return to lead Saxon rout of Portugal". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
- ^ "Matt Smith (Centre)". Leicester Tigers. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- ^ "Matt Smith: Leicester Tigers centre retiring to take on academy head coach role". BBC. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ "Bath complete comeback to give Leicester Tigers another gut-wrenching setback". The Telegraph. 18 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.